If you are using :: to abbreviate sets of 2 or more zeros, how can you tell how many there are? In the example he condensed 3 sets down to ::?

IPv6 always has 8 sets of 4 numbers for addressing. So it should be easy to figure out with a little math. IE: FABD:4976:5AC3:: would mean that 5 more sets of 4 zeros is tacked on FABD:4976:5AC3:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000